Johns Hopkins to Build Cancer Center in Baltimore with $65 Million Gift

Johns Hopkins has announced on May 6 its plans to build a new cancer treatment building in Baltimore. The facility will be constructed with the help of a $65 million gift. It will be named after the late Albert P. “Skip” Viragh, Jr., a philanthropist and a former cancer patient treated at Johns Hopkins, who died in 2003, at the age of 62.

Johns Hopkins announced on May 6 its plans to build a new cancer treatment building in Baltimore. The facility will be constructed with the help of a $65 million gift. It will be named after the late Albert P. “Skip” Viragh, Jr., a philanthropist and a former cancer patient treated at Johns Hopkins, who died in 2003, at the age of 62.

The Skip Viragh Outpatient Cancer Building is scheduled for completion in 2017. It will be constructed on the southeast corner of Fayette Street and North Broadway, in East Baltimore, and will feature about 50 exam rooms, advanced cancer imaging, a specially designed cancer diagnostic and treatment planning center, and many other facilities and services.

The new facility will serve as the primary entry point to Hopkins’ Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. It will be able to accommodate all adult medical oncology patient consultations and will free up space in the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building, space that will be used for other patient services.

Ayers Saint Gross and Wilmot Sanz are the new building’s architects. A construction firm has not been selected so far. The project will be funded using mostly philanthropic gifts. The $65 million gift is part of Rising to the Challenge: The Campaign for Johns Hopkins, an effort to raise $4.5 billion, primarily to support both the university and Johns Hopkins Medicine.

William G. Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, praised Skip Viragh for all his help. “The new building will be far more than a place for physician visits and diagnostic scans. It will be the place where we’ll explore novel ways to deliver cancer care and cures,” he said in a statement for the press. “Patients with many different types of cancer will be able to get all of their services in this building, including visits, laboratory testing, clinical trials, radiology, and chemotherapy, greatly increasing the comfort and efficiency of their treatment experience at the Kimmel Cancer Center.”

Under Armour Inc. also recently pledged $10 million to Johns Hopkins for the construction of the Under Armour LiveWell Center. This new center will be located on the top floor of the Skip Viragh Outpatient Cancer Building and will be dedicated to breast health-related programs, which will also be available to women worldwide through distance learning, the internet and social media. The gift is the largest ever made by the Baltimore-based company.